If things continue like this, the people of Munich will be faced with the big philosophical question in the beer tent over the next few years: whether the glass is half full or half empty. And that’s before you’ve even had a sip of it. The bar morale has drastically decreased at this year’s Oktoberfest, as has now become known. Most of the controlled beer mugs were anything but full this year. In times of high inflation and rising energy prices, one can only say: We’ve had enough!
The inspectors of the district administration department (KVR) checked 825 mugs this year, distributed over all marquees. Just 14.3 percent of it was completely filled with a liter of beer, as the authority reports. In 2019, 27.6 percent of the inspected mugs were “properly filled”, in 2018 even 50.6 percent, more than every second Wiesnmass. Those were the days.
In Munich, the wonderful concept of bar morality goes hand in hand with that of the Unterschank. If this occurs, the bar morale is not in good order. This year, the KVR complained about a tavern in 31.2 percent of the jugs, i.e. in almost every third one. According to the beer sheriffs, the majority of the steins with a tavern were still within the tolerance range. Nevertheless, the speakers of the innkeepers were ordered to report during the Wiesn because of the poor values.
Perhaps in their explanations they also made a digression on foam, which plays an ambivalent role. Beer drinkers like it because it prevents CO₂ from escaping too quickly and keeps the drink fresh. But if the guest is given a glass full of foam, he pays for beer that he doesn’t get. Incidentally, the Munich physicist Arnd Leike received the Ig Nobel Prize in 2002, a satirical award from Harvard University, for his deadly serious investigations into the decomposition of beer foam. In his work, Leike showed that the airy white crown is subject to the laws of exponential decay – analogous to radioactive decay.
Most Wiesn visitors will probably not give a damn about the intricacies of how the foam breaks down after the second measure at the latest. And one can assume that a number of beer tent guests were properly filled at the end of the day this year as well. Some simply put the matter with the Unterschank like this: Miraculously, at the Oktoberfest you can drink a lot more than usual.